Summary
The Kansas City Chiefs got off to a good start in defending their title by beating the Houston Texans 23-14 on Saturday, reaching the American Association final for the seventh time in a row.
In search of a third consecutive Super Bowl, they will face the winner of the highly anticipated match between the Baltimore Ravens and the Buffalo Bills which will take place on Sunday (6:30 p.m. on RDS2).
The Chiefs have never lost in the second playoff round with Patrick Mahomes (7-0), who now joins Joe Montana in second place in history thanks to a 16th playoff victory, behind Tom Brady who has 35.
Travis Kelce, who scored a touchdown, shone as he did during the last playoffs with 117 yards, his best game of the season. It was his ninth playoff game with at least 100 yards, which puts him atop Jerry Rice all-time.
The Texans will therefore remain the only team to have never reached an association final. CJ Stroud was the victim of eight quarterback sacks, one unit from the record, and Ka’imi Fairbairn missed three kicks, including a conversion and the last field goal which was blocked by Leo Chenal to preserve the Chiefs cushion.
Houston held off the Chiefs
The Texans gave the ball to the Chiefs after winning the toss and the latter scored points from the start. After a loss of ground by Isiah Pacheco on his first catch and two incomplete passes by Mahomes, Harrison Butker made a 32-yard field goal to open the scoring.
The two teams connected on two more precision kicks, giving the Chiefs a 6-3 lead in the first quarter. KC’s offense was relatively messy during this quarter, while the visitors’ defense was tough. They had two sacks; while the Chiefs had only been victims of one in their last three meetings.
-CJ Stroud was evaluated because he was limping after being tackled by George Karlaftis, but he didn’t lose his legs at all. We saw it at the start of the second quarter when he went for a first down. His 28-yard run was the longest of both teams at that point. However, he was tackled shortly after by Chris Jones, then Ka’imi Fairbairn completely missed a 55-yard field goal.
Mahomes therefore took the ball back in a good position. He connected with Travis Kelce for 49 yards to stop at the goal gate, then Kareem Hunt completed the job easily with a rushing touchdown.
The Texans reduced the gap to 13-6 at the end of the first half during a sequence where Canadian John Metchie III caught two balls, including one for the first down. Finally, Fairbairn recovered on another slightly shorter field goal attempt of 48 yards.
They then closed to 13-12 thanks to a touchdown from Joe Mixon, before a failed conversion from Fairbairn to the right of the posts. Andrew Beck got rid of the cornerback to open the way for Mixon, who made a 12-yard run at the end of a very long possession of 10:24 and 15 plays.
Watching the action from the sidelines the entire time, Mahomes’ offense had an opportunity to respond through Kelce to lead 20-12. Hunt allowed his team to extend their streak on fourth down and 1 until the start of the fourth quarter. Kelce advanced the ball into the penalty area and was again targeted by Mahomes who completed his touchdown pass by falling as he was grabbed while leaving his protection zone.
Neither team had made a serious mistake up to that point, and the quarterbacks didn’t have an interception on their record either. Stroud, however, came close to disaster. The Texans were disorganized before the turnover on a fourth down and Stroud was pushed back into his territory before being the victim of another sack, giving KC very advantageous position. The Texans defense fortunately held on to repair this mistake.
Still, the Chiefs increased their lead to 23-12 later after a 27-yard field goal from Butker.
The last time the Texans visited the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in the 2nd round was in 2020 and it will be remembered that at that time, Houston built a 24-0 lead only to see the Chiefs overturn steam with 28 points in the second quarter and eventually win 51 to 31. Kansas City had triumphed in the Super Bowl that year.
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